So, what are you drinking now?

@CanadianNinja - Ha! This was early 2000's before the 'ale revolution' in the UK. CertAinly better than the Fosters and Carling that was on tap almost everywhere ...

@CanadianNinja and, I expect, many of the locals would have agreed with you also about liking Sol beer. I have always loved Sol. It is so simple and pure. Just nice clean barley. Forget the big time hops and the toasting/roasting of the grain. Just the natural goodness of barley.

In a similar vein I love Miller Genuine Draft. Just barley, but barley with nuances unavailable in pasteurized beers. "Cooking" the beers destroys those nuances. I started a whisky tasting with MGD, and those present "got" the taste of barley far more quickly and clearly than they did from any malt whisky.

@RianC Watney’s Red Barrell anyone?

Our first dinner with friends post-lockdown here in NZ. Wonderful catching up and sharing food and some drams in person. Glen Scotia Victoriana, Springbank Local Barley 10, and Kilkerran 8 CS recharred sherry cask all going down a treat.

I’m having a cocktail I may or may not have invented.

• 1.5 oz Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum
• 3 oz Coconut water
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• approx 3-4 oz club soda

Very refreshing on this hot day. This is really flavourful rum. Tons of nutmeg and banana.

@OdysseusUnbound First three ingredients shaken and then top with the club soda?

@TracerBullet I think that would be the ideal way to do it, maybe even add a touch of simple syrup, but I don’t have a Boston shaker here at the cottage so I just stirred the booze and juice, added ice, topped with club soda.

@OdysseusUnbound It's toasty here in Maryland today. I might give your cocktail a try. A neighbor brought me a bottle of over-proof rum when he was visiting family in Jamaica and this is a good excuse to crack it open. So you create this cocktail? Does it have a name?

@TracerBullet Well I’m not sure I actually created it, so naming rights could get tricky, what with copyright infringement and all that. I like the name “Electric Avenue” but Eddie Grant is British/Guyanese and the rum is Jamaican. I’m open to other suggestions. The only other cocktail I’ve named is the Captain Jack Sparrow:

• 2-3 oz aged rum (I like Appleton 12 year)
• ice (optional)
• Rocks tumbler (optional)

Combine the rum and ice (if using) and serve in a glass (if using). Repeat as needed.

@OdysseusUnbound - count me in for Electric Avenue!!!! Great ‘80’s tune!

Now you’re speaking my language @Victor!

Love me some MGD!

Before dinner, I made “Jerry Thomas Manhattan’s” or at least that was my intent. Toward the end of the cocktail, I couldn’t figure out why it was so different from last night; more orange influence and lighter color. Then I realized that I forgot the sweet vermouth. I’m such a moron. The good news is the cocktail was quite good, but wasn’t the balanced cocktail that I had last night, so I made another, this time including the sweet vermouth. Wow, what a difference. They were both good, but the one made per the recipe is nothing short of spectacular. I still prefer a traditional Manhattan, but the Jerry Thomas Manhattan is a close second. Thanks again @TracerBullet !!!

After dinner, compared 3 Rye’s head-to-head; Quarter Horse (45%), Knob Creek 100 proof and Rittenhouse BiB (50%).

The Quarter Horse nose is farmyard, wet hay, silage, manure. Palate is “light” rye spice. Not a sipper, but not bad.

The Knob Creek nose is slight famyard, fresh cut wood, dry hay, putty and an industrial note. Palate is best of the three; “warm” rye spice with the longest finish of the three. It’s an ok sipper, but not sure it justifies the almost double in price over the Rittenhouse.

The Rittenhouse nose is also industrial and silage. The palate is less rye spice than the the Knob Creek.

If I was to rank them it would be Knob Creek, Rittenhouse and then Quarter Horse, but the price difference does not justify picking the Knob Creek over the Rittenhouse, especially if using mainly for cocktails.

I will mention that the above notes were right after I had just finished dinner consisting of grilled halibut, scallops and asparagus over charcoal with pecan wood chunks for additional smoke. I will try this experiment again to see if the dinner inpacted the outcome in any way.

@paddockjudge texted me that he was sipping some Kaiyo Mizunara, and I was inspired to join him. After a half hour of delays and technical issues, we finally got a zoom session going. The @Cricklewood texted us to see what we were doing an he joined in too.

I don't remember hat everyone else drank but over the course of at least 3 hours, talking about whisky and many things not, I had a little Kaiyo, a small pour of AP CS, and finished of with (literally) 5 cc of Shelter point rye.

@OdysseusUnbound I give Electric Avenue the thumbs up!

@TracerBullet The name or the cocktail itself?

@BlueNote - Bit before my time that one! Funny how social norms have become waaaay to uptight

@OdysseusUnbound - I don't know if you, or anyone, watched Archer but how about ... Horatio Cornblower?

Sounds like a tasty one, I might have to try that!

@bwmccoy - that's interesting, thanks. Knob Creek rye is about the same, if not less, than Rittenhouse over here.

@OdysseusUnbound Was referring to the name. The cocktail is refreshing. I agree that possibly a bit of simple syrup might work. I'll have to play with it a bit.

@RianC I’m vaguely aware of the show but I don’t know the cocktail...

@OdysseusUnbound - It's from a scene where they're trying to think of a name for a cocktail whilst attempting a tracheostomy using a flick knife (sterilized in said cocktail) and a drinks straw. Horatio Cornblower is suggested resulting in a headbutt from the patient

Man, I love that show!

Had a mojito pre-dinner with Wray and Nephew overproof and some fresh mint from the garden. If kids weren't part of the equation I might well be on my third of fourth by now ...

@RianC

If kids weren't part of the equation I might well be on my third of fourth by now.

Isn’t that always the way it goes?

@Victor, good old MGD! That was my dad's favorite beer. He'd had a couple about once a year, in the fall after harvesting soybeans.

@OdysseusUnbound In a pinch one could forget all those other complicated ingredients and swig the Captain Jack Sparrow straight from the bottle.

@RianC I downed a tankerload of Watney's and Double Diamond back in the day, not to mention a few tubes of Foster's. That was before Britain went all Euro.

There is a chill in the air this evening in Maryland. Sitting by the fire pit with some Ardbeg Alligator.

Started the night with a Jerry Thomas Manhattan, but instead of the Angostura bitters, I substituted chocolate bitters. I thought the chocolate would work well with the orange. It did! It was a subtle difference, but detectable.

After dinner, Oban Bay Reserve "The Night's Watch" Game of Thrones Limited Edition bottling - 43% ABV.

Followed by Talisker Select Reserve "House Greyjoy" Game of Thrones Limited Edition bottling - 45.8% ABV.

A little JD SB BP and a couple of Corona beers whilst BBQing sausages and bavette steaks after a scorching afternoon on the golf course.

Man, those steaks were goooooood!

@bwmccoy How are those GOTs? Especially that Talisker?

@RianC Yeah it hit 90F here yesterday for the first time. Time to break out the Gose beers.